Mayor unveils $88 billion budget to deal with state and federal shortfalls

Mayor Bill de Blasio released his preliminary budget for 2019 — as he aims to handle some shortfalls in state and federal funding.

The more than $88 billion plan is $3 billion more than last year's budget.

de Blasio says the city is facing potentially $1.5 billion dollars in cutbacks from Washington and Albany.

He believes this plan will prepare the city for the cuts.

"Now we are dealing with a situation we have never seen before," the mayor said. "We cannot predict, we don’t know where it’s going and the ramifications are huge so from a budget perspective that causes a lot of caution from our part."

The plan also includes $900 million in savings.

de Blasio predicts city agencies will come up with an additional $500 million in savings by the Spring.